Thill-coupling.



M. GRIMORD. THILL COUPLING. APPLIGATION FILED JUNE 30, 1914.

Patented Feb. 16, 1915 INVENTOR WITNESSES MM GZYFZO/d W ATTORNEYS THENORRIS PETE m.- PHOTO-11110.. WASHING. R C- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MATTHEW GRIMORD, OF IRON RIVER, MICHIGAN.

[CHILL-COUPLING.

Application filed June 30, 1914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MATTHEW GRIMORD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Iron River, in the county of Iron and State of Michigan,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Thill- Couplers, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to thill couplers, and one of the principalobjects thereof is to provide an improved positive acting thillcoupling, which when locked is unlikely to become accidentally unlockedand which may be readily secured to a thill or shaft.

Another object of the invention is to provide a thill coupling having afixed jaw, and a movable jaw carried by a long pivoted arm, and a leverfor operating against the arm in order to lock the jaws, means beingprovided for maintaining the lever in jaw locking position.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved coupling ofthe class described, which will be extremely simple, durable, efiicientin operation and inexpensive to manufacture.

With these and other objects in view which will become apparent as thedescription proceeds, the invention resides in the construction,combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter more fully describedand claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which likecharacters of reference indicate like parts throughout the severalfigures, of which Figure 1 represents a side elevational view showingthe device in operation, the unlocked position of the movable jaw andthe lever being indicated in dotted lines. Fig. 2 represents a bottomplan view of the coupling. Fig. 3 represents a transverse sectional viewtaken on the plane indicated by the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 looking in thedirection indicated by the arrows.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, a thill or shaft isindicated at 5, and a draft bolt or knuckle of ordinary construction isindicated in cross section at 6, said draft bolt being carried by theaxle of the vehicle in a well known manner. The coupling includes ametallic strip or plate 7, bent at its rear end to form an arcuate orcurved jaw 8, said strip 7 adapted to be bent to conform to theconfiguration of the under side of any particular thill to which thecoupling is to be secured, said strip being secured by suitable meanssuch as Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 16, 1915.

Serial No. 848,183.

screws 9 to the under side of the thill at the rear end thereof asindicated in Fig. 1. The fixed jaw 8 extends rearwardly of the thill andis adapted to engage over the draft bolt in the manner indicated. Formedintegrally with strip 7 and bent away from the same about midway of itslength and in parallel relation with each other are a pair of ears orlugs 10, through which a pivot pin 11 extends, said pin being headed atone end as at 12 and provided with a cotter pin 13 at the other end toprevent loss of the pin, and on said pin is swiveled by means of an eye14, one end of the arm 15 in the form of a strip of substantially thesame width as strip 7, the opposite end of said arm being bent to form amovable jaw 16 oppositely disposed with relation to jaw 8 and adapted toco-act with said jaw in engaging the draft bolt 6. It will be noted thatthis construction provides a fixed jaw, and a movable jaw carried by acomparatively long pivoted arm, and the arm may be resilient to acertain degree if so desired.

A pair of arms 17 are formed integrally with and bent at right angles tothe strip 7, in parallel relation with each other and extend in the samedirection as lugs 10. Said arms extend one on each side of the jaw arm15, and serve, by means of one of a number of sets of openings 18, toretain a pivot pin 19 similar to pin 11, on which pin is pivoted one endof a locking lever 2-0, said lever provided at its pivoted end with anoff set or right angularly extending nose 21 rounded on its outer end asat 22 and by means of which the jaw arm 15 may be engaged when movingthe lever from the dotted line to full line position in Fig. 1, wherebyto move jaw 16 toward and into clamping engagement with the draft bolt6. A plurality of sets of openings 18 are provided so that the pin maybe shifted from one set to the other at will whereby to adjust thelocking lever to allow for variations in the sizes of individual draftbolts. When the lever is in locked position the engaging end of the nose21 is in contact with arm 15 on the opposite side of pivot point 19 fromthe shank of the lever, and hence the lever will naturally be maintainedin locked position, but in order to absolutely prevent accidentaldisplacement of the lever from looking position, the strip 7 is providedwith an integral spring latch 23 depending therefrom and adapted to beengaged by the lever 20 near the outer end thereof. The outer end of thelever is provided with a hand hole 24 by-means of which it may bereadily manipulated.

By the construction set forth it will be readily understood that thecoupler is extremely simple, and that by reason of its peculiarconstruction it may be bent without disturbing the workings of the sameto fit practically any shape and design of thill, and it is for thisreason also thatthe adjustable pivot for the lever is provided so thatshould the coupling be fastened to a thill of a shape to prevent readyoperation of thelever by reason of the extraordinary bending of thestrip the pivot point of the lever may be shifted to such positionwhereinthe lever maybe readily manipulated.

X Although I have described the preferred embodiment of my invention,Imay desire to make such changes in the construction, combination andarrangement ofparts thereof as do not depart from the spirit oftheinvention and the scope of the appended claims. a I

I claim 1 A thill coupler comprising a strip of metal adapted to besecured to a thill, said strip formed into a fixed jaw at one end, andbeing provided intermediate its length withla pair of depending lugs,and being provided between said lugs and fixedqjaw with apair .ofdepending arms, and beyond the lugs from the arms with a spring latch,an, arm pivoted at one end between said Copies of this patent may beobtained for lugs and provided at its opposite end with a movable jawadapted to co-act with said fixed jaw in engaging a draft bolt, a leverpivoted between said depending arms, said lever provided with a noseadapted to engage the jaw arm for locking said jaws against the draftbolt, the opposite end of the lever adapted to be engaged by said latchfor maintaining the lever in position, said depending arms provided witha plurality or series of openings, and a pin disposed in onepair ofopenings upon which pin said lever is pivoted, said pin adapted to beadjusted longitudinally of the arms by means of said openings whereby toadjust the lever relatively to the locking jaw arm. I

2. A thill coupler comprising a strip of metal adapted to be secured toathill and having a fixed jaw at one end, a pair of lugs and a pairof-arms provided at spaced points on the strip, a latch provided on saidstrip, a movable arm pivoted between the lugs and provided with a jawadapted to co act with the fixed jaw in engaging a draft bolt, a leverpivoted between said arms and provided with anose adapted to engage thejaw arm for locking said jaws against said draft bolt, said leveradapted to beengaged by said latch for maintaining the lever in lookingposition.

MATTHEW GRIMORD.

Witnesses:

J. F. BENDT, JOHN P. CURLEY.

five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents,Washington,D.Q.f to t

